Lubricating an A/C Compressor Used for Vehicle On-Board Air

by Cam

Hi Bill,

I want to use and A/C compressor in my truck to provide compressed air.

I have read that A/C compressors are lubricated by the freon/oil mix that they are pumping and if I want to compress air, I will have to supply lubrication at the low pressure input side of the pump and put an oil removing filter on the high pressure output side.

The filter seems straight forward because it is on the high pressure side, but will the lubricator work properly in front of the compressor?

Thanks!

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Bill says...

Hi Cam. I am happy to post this for you for a while, though, since this site is to do with air compressors, and even though you want to use an AC compressor to pump air, (why, by the way???)I personally cannot help since I have no experience with AC compressors at all.

The concepts are similar, I guess, but since the freon seems to impart a lubrication function as well as being the cooling gas, I don't know how to make that pump into an air compressor.

Do let us know why you want to tackle this, will you? I suspect there may be better ways to do what you want, but cannot comment there either, as I don't know what you are trying to do.


Cheers,

Bill




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Lubricating an A/C Compressor Used for Vehicle On-Board Air

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Nov 29, 2011
 A/C Compressor
by: Cam

I have a 4x4 and I want to have air available to me to pump up tires etc on the trail. Since my truck does not have A/C, but is an option, I can easily and cheaply get a compressor that will bolt right up to the engine with all the required brackets and pulleys to be run with a v belt.

Really my question is not about the A/C compressor but about the lubricator. I want to know if the lubricator will work at low pressure, since I need to put it before the compressor.

Also on a side note, I don't know enough about compressors to know what kind of flow to expect at the input compared to the output. If I expect 6 or 8 CFM @ 100psi output, should I expect some higher CFM at the input since the pressure will be much lower?

Thanks,
Cam

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Cam, there are a host of 12 VDC air compressors that are built for just your use, plug into an accessories socket in the vehicle, and can deliver 120 PSI or so, albeit, slowly. That's the route I would take.

See SCFM, PSI and Sizing pages for more info on compressor flows.

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